UFC 184

Weidman-Belfort falls through for third time

Brett Okamoto

January 31, 2015

Chris Weidman (right) successfully defended his UFC middleweight title against Lyoto Machida in July © Getty Images

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UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman has withdrawn from a scheduled title bout against Vitor Belfort on February 28 in Los Angeles due to a rib injury.

Officials confirmed the news on Friday, following an initial report by MMAJunkie.com. A female bantamweight title fight between Ronda Rousey and Cat Zingano will now headline the pay-per-view event.

It is the third time a scheduled Weidman-Belfort fight has fallen through due to various reasons. The two were supposed to meet at UFC 173 last May in Las Vegas, but Belfort pulled out in February when the Nevada State Athletic Commission voted unanimously to ban testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) from combat sports. Belfort was on approved use of TRT at the time.

Weidman (12-0) went on to face Lyoto Machida at UFC 175 in July. After Weidman defeated Machida via unanimous decision, the UFC rebooked his fight against Belfort for December 6 in Las Vegas. The bout failed to materialise again, however, as Weidman pulled out due to a hand injury.

The UFC has not made an official announcement on whether Belfort (24-10) will still compete at UFC 184. The 37-year-old has not fought since he knocked out Dan Henderson in the first round of a light heavyweight contest on November 9, 2013.

A non-title female bantamweight fight between Holly Holm and Raquel Pennington has been promoted to the UFC 184 co-main event.

This article originally appeared on ESPN.com